The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has published a statement (http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/whitepaper-web)¬*outlining the organization‚??s concerns about secure boot and its potential implications for open source software. The paper also evaluates the solutions that Linux distributors Canonical and Red Hat have adopted to address the issue.

PC vendors that ship Windows 8 will have to ship their computers with UEFI secure booting enabled (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/01/windows-8s-locked-bootloaders-much-ado-about-nothing-or-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/) in order to meet the criteria of Microsoft‚??s Windows 8 Logo program. The secure boot mechanism ensures that only code signed with a trusted signature can execute at startup, thus protecting the user from malware that tampers with the operating system during the boot process.

Earlier this year, Linux users began to raise concerns (http://arstechnica.com/business/2011/09/windows-8-secure-boot-will-complicate-linux-installs/) about whether the security mechanism will impair the ability of regular end users to install third-party operating systems and open source bootloaders.